


And We Let Her Sew The Buttons

by thewritetofreespeech



Category: Coraline (2009), Coraline - Neil Gaiman
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-15
Updated: 2014-10-15
Packaged: 2018-02-21 06:09:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2457725
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewritetofreespeech/pseuds/thewritetofreespeech
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A small drabble about the children the Other Mother claimed before Coraline.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And We Let Her Sew The Buttons

Mary

Life on the frontier was very hard. But then again, life in this particular time was always hard. But life in the untamed wilds of the land was especially difficult.  


And Mary was lonely.

In the town she and her family had been in before, before her father bought this land for them to tend and start a farm, there hadn’t been many children her age but there were some. But there were no children out here. She was all alone.  


Until she found the tree.  


The tree with the hollow that led to the magical world where life was simple and she had no fields to tend, and it was always warm, and there was always food, delicious food, and games to play.  


“Mary, my dear, would you like to stay here forever?”

And Mary hadn’t even thought to say no.

John

John was always a sick child.

Born frail and with chronic cough and weak lungs that got winded if he went outside, he could do little more than lay in his bed and dream of fun.  


But not here.  


Here, through the secret door where the walls creaked to call to him, he could run and play in the sun until his heart was content. His Other Mother and Father never stopped him, or told him to take it easy, or scolded him for playing too much with his Other Dog that he had always dreamed of.  


“John, you sweet lad, would you like to stay with us forever?”  


And John had screamed with his full, healed lungs when she sewed the buttons on.

Gracie

Gracie and Tracy were two peas in a podded. They did everything together. They agreed on everything.

Until recently.  


“We can’t go back their Grace!” Tracy whispered in the night between their beds to her twin sister.  


“Why not Tracy!? It’s so nice there. Better there.” Gracie hissed back with a scowl.  


“But it ain’t our home. Mama and Daddy ain’t there. They’re here!”  


“Mama and Daddy don’t care about us!” Gracie argued. “They don’t even know we gone when we go. At least our Other Mother misses us! At least she cares we ain’t happy!” And no one made fun of them there, or called them names, or pulled their hair and called it ‘nappy’ like they did at school.

Here everything was nice and new, and they could have all the sweets and cakes they wanted, and they didn't have to pinch pennies or save to get new dresses. 

“But she’s ain’t our Mama!”  


“She is to me!”  


And for the first time since they were born, Gracie and Tracy did something separately.  


And Gracie let her sew the buttons while Tracy stayed home.


End file.
